


Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday

by PetrichorPerfume



Series: Rainbow Marbles [39]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Big Brother Dean, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Books, Brotherly Love, Cake, Couch Cuddles, Dean Loves Sam, Fluff, M/M, Movie Night, No Click Flick Moments, Sam's Birthday, Stargazing, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 09:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1893804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetrichorPerfume/pseuds/PetrichorPerfume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam isn't sure what day it is, but he's pretty sure it's not Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this prompt from Whreflections: I'd reallyreallyreally love to see Dean do something for Sam that makes him feel as important to Dean as he used to before all this...maybe Sam draws a pink marble and what he wants for the day is for them to be brothers again, drinking together and bickering over movies and driving somewhere in the Impala so he can see for himself that some part of the Dean that loved him like that before really is still there? (...or maybe Dean sees that Sam is still sad sometimes and instead of giving him stuffed animals like he gives Cas he goes more beauty and the beast and gives Sam really nice bookshelves for his room or something, idk. Just. Sam love. Please?)

Sam is pretty sure it’s going to be a normal day when he wakes up. Castiel is pressed up against him, breathing lightly, and he is warm and comfortable.

 

“Look,” Castiel says, a little bit of wonder coloring his voice.

 

Sam just hums in response and doesn’t open his eyes. Sometimes Cas will wake up first and say, “Look,” and point to a new stuffed animal Dean left for him in the middle of the night. He usually doesn’t sound this excited, but maybe it’s a unicorn or something.

 

“Sam, look,” Cas insists, shaking him a little.

 

“It’s very cute,” he says sleepily.

 

“No, really. _Look._ ”

 

Sam carefully peels his eyes open and looks over to Castiel’s side of the room. “Very pretty, Cas. Now let me go back to sleep.”

 

Cas sighs and turns Sam’s head towards the other side of the room. “Look.”

 

Sam does. Gone is the horrible blue and green theme and the empty shelves. The entire half of the room is painted a brilliant aquamarine that perfectly compliments the lilac colors of Castiel’s side. There’s an antique wooden model of a ship mounted on the wall between two huge bookshelves lined top to bottom with brand new books. There are also two portals to what looks like a moving, living breathing ocean. A fish swims by the glass and Castiel giggles.

 

Sam jumps up and out of bed. One of the bookshelves is dedicated to the great American classics, science-fiction and fantasy novels, Shakespeare’s entire works, five poetry anthologies, a few romances, and an entire shelf of more obscure books – plays written in French, a German cookbook, Victorian skin mags, and an entire series that looks like it was printed yesterday despite being written in unmodified Middle English. Wedged in the corner is A Very Supernatural Christmas by Carver Edlund.

 

There’s a slip of paper in the front cover. _Merry Christmas, Sammy. Love, Dean._ He blinks in confusion. It’s not written in Dean’s handwriting; in fact, the way the letters flow together looks extremely feminine. He turns it over. It’s a receipt for pie, dated December 24, 1982.

 

“It’s not Christmas, is it?” He looks from the receipt to Cas and back again. 

 

He looks up at Cas when the other doesn’t answer. Cas looks decidedly uncomfortable.

 

“Is it?”

 

Cas bites his lip. “You don’t know what day it is?”

 

Sam thinks for a moment. He’s not actually sure what day today is, or even what month. “It was pretty nice out the last time Dean took us out.” That narrows it down to late spring or early fall, although it _could_ be very early summer.

 

“It’s May,” Castiel says, as if that explains everything.

 

“So, not Christmas.” He puts the receipt back into the book and carefully replaces the book, then walks over to the other bookshelf. It’s filled with non-fiction books on every subject imaginable, from astronomy to zoology and everything in between. There are science books, geography books, history books, art books, music books, and even books about interior design.

 

“It’s the second of May,” Castiel says in exactly the same tone.

 

Sam turns around. “And?”

 

“You’ve forgotten.”

 

Sam thinks for a moment. It’s not Christmas, not some sort other sort of holiday, and it isn’t an anniversary of theirs. Before his thoughts can go any further, Castiel’s out of bed and wrapped around him.

 

“Happy birthday, Sam.”

 Sam isn’t surprised that he forgot. He hasn’t celebrated his birthday since he left college. He’s surprised that Dean remembered, though, and that the demon actually did something special for him.

 

“Thanks, Cas.” When the former angel pulls away, Sam goes to inspect the rest of his side of the room.

 

There are some new trinkets lining the walls and the shelves, but what really catches his eye is the brand new iPod on the night table. He grins. It’s pre-loaded with all of his favorite songs. There’s a double headphone jack attached to the top, and two pairs of headphones next to it.

 

He can see it now: Long nights spent reading in bed with his headphones on while Castiel listens and reads along. He’s lost in the fantasy until Castiel gently nudges him.

 

He spins around and sees Dean in the doorway, smiling at him.

 

He rushes over to him and wraps Dean in his arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he whispers, picking Dean up and spinning him around.

 

Dean laughs when Sam finally puts him down. “I take it you liked the first part of your present.”

 

Sam’s smile widens. “First part?”

 

“Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”

 

Sam complies and feels Dean press something small and round into his hand. He closes his fingers over it and rolls it in his palm. “It’s a marble,” he says. Dean still hasn’t told him to open his eyes, so he doesn’t know what color it is yet.

 

“Open your eyes.”

 

Sam opens his eyes and his hand and sees a pink marble. A dozen different thoughts run through his mind. He could do anything today. He could go off on a drive by himself to anywhere within a day’s journey from here. He could spend all day reading and browsing through his new books. He could ask Dean to borrow Cas and find out what it’s like on the other side of the line. Or he could spend the day with Dean and Cas, doing normal things like talking and drinking and being family.

 

In the end, it’s one of the simplest decisions he’s ever made.

 

***

 

Sam sinks down onto the sofa with a contented little sigh. He takes a swig from his beer and throws his arm around Dean. Dean presses a tiny kiss onto his lips and snuggles into him.

 

Castiel is seated in between their legs. At first, it had been a little strange for Sam to see Castiel naked and submissive while he was clothed and free, but he’d gotten used to it surprisingly quickly.

 

“Can we put on something else?” He whines. They’ve both seen the movie on the screen at least a half a dozen times each.

 

“James Bond is a classic, Sammy,” Dean shoots back.

 

Sam makes a face but doesn’t say anything in response. Dean’s word is final, after all. Then Dean nudges him and raises an eyebrow, and he remembers that today, his word is just as good as Dean’s. He smirks. “I want to watch that new Spiderman remake.”

 

Dean smiles back and nudges Cas with his foot. Cas wordlessly rises, finds the DVD, and slides it into the player. They’ve had the movie for a while, but they haven’t watched it because Dean has a rule that they need to agree on what to watch, and Castiel _really_ doesn’t like Spiderman. He isn’t insisting that they see it now to be mean; it’s just that he’s not sure when he’ll have another chance and he wants to take the opportunity while it’s here.

 

Castiel settles back down on the floor and Sam pets him for a while. He knows that Cas likes it, and it’s relaxing for him as well. About twenty minutes into the movie, he taps Castiel’s cheek. Cas looks up at him with big, inquisitive eyes.

 

“Can you go get us some candy, please?”

 

“What kind?”

 

“A little of everything.”

 

Castiel returns a few minutes later with a big bowl of assorted chocolate and sour candies. Sam smiles and praises him for a job well done. He hands Cas a candy bar in thanks.

 

They slowly work their way through the candy bowl as the movie drags on, with Dean throwing used wrappers at Sam and Sam feeding Cas little pieces of everything he opens.

 

By the time the movie finishes, they’re all full. “You’re such a geek,” Dean laughs as the credits play.

 

“Am not!”

 

“Are too!”

 

“Yeah, well, you’re a jerk!”

 

“Right back at you, bitch!”

 

Sam tackles Dean. They’re both laughing so hard they can barely breathe. Then their eyes meet and Dean’s are so wonderfully clear and green and bright and _human_ that Sam’s heart skips a beat. “Dean,” he whispers. He leans down and kisses Dean. It’s close-lipped and short and oh-so sweet, and even though it doesn’t go any further Sam thinks it’s one of the best kisses he’s ever had.

 

***

 

They spend the rest of the day like that, holding each other and watching movies that only Sam likes despite Dean’s numerous and very vocal complaints. They finish off a six-pack between them, and at one point Dean dips his finger in the beer and holds it out for Cas to taste. Cas wrinkles his nose at the smell but licks it off obediently nevertheless. Sam thinks the face he makes at the taste is adorable.

 

They eat birthday cake for dinner – well, Dean and Cas have birthday cake for dinner; Sam has a grilled chicken pita and a tiny slice of cake for dessert.

 

Dean tucks Cas into bed an hour early, and Sam is vaguely disappointed that the day is ending so early but a little excited to be able to spend the rest of it reading and enjoying his new iPod with Cas. When Dean sees him getting ready for bed, though, he stops him.

 

“What are you doing? It’s, like, seven o’clock.”

 

“I thought-”

 

“You can go to bed whenever you want,” Dean says.

 

Sam smiles. “Let’s go for a drive, then.”

 

***

 

Dean offers to let him drive but Sam declines. The Impala might have been their childhood home, but she is Dean’s baby and always will be, and Sam knows that his brother doesn’t drive her as often as he’d like.

 

They drive until dusk with the windows down and AC/DC and Metallica blaring. Sam had put up a token fuss about the music, but they both know that deep down, Sam enjoys classic rock almost as much as Dean.

 

They pull off the road and into a clearing a few miles from the highway. They both get out at the same time and Dean gestures for Sam to look up at the darkening sky.

 

“I come here sometimes when you and Cas are asleep,” Dean says as he sits on the hood of the car. Sam joins him. “There’s this great big line of stars and-”

 

“That’s called the Milky Way.”

 

“I knew that,” Dean answers defensively.

 

“Sure you did.”

 

“I did!”

 

They fall into a comfortable silence for a few moments while the sky darkens. More and more stars become visible and Sam is awed by just how many he can see.

 

“It’s beautiful out here,” Dean says softly, as if he’s afraid that his voice would shatter the moment. “I wanted you to see.”

 

Sam tears his eyes away from the sky above him to look at his brother. He sees some of the stars above reflected in Dean’s eyes. “You’re beautiful.”

 

Dean looks at him and swallows. For a second, Sam thinks that Dean is going to lean in and kiss him or profess his undying love for him or ask him to marry him. “Shut up,” is all Dean says.

 

Sam laughs.

 

***

 

It’s half past midnight when Sam finally crawls into bed. Cas stirs and blinks sleepily at him in the darkness.

 

“I tried to stay up,” he slurs. “Wanted to wish you a happy birthday... One last time.”

 

Sam kisses his forehead in response. “Go back to sleep, Cas.”

 

“I’m really happy for you, Sam,” Cas says after a while, sounding slightly more awake.

 

Sam smiles. “Thanks, Cas.”

 

“It makes me happy to see you happy,” Cas explains.

 

By the time Sam thinks of something to say in return, Cas is already asleep again. “Love you,” he whispers before joining Castiel in a peaceful sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> All prompts will be answered eventually, but probably not in order.


End file.
